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Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover”

“Porphyria’s Lover” appeared in the same 1842 volume where “My Last Duchess” was first published. Both poems show Browning at the top of his game with respect to the dramatic monologue form. Curiously, both poems also depict deranged and dangerous men who either kill their lovers or else have someone else kill them.

Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock

Pope’s poem is a magnificent mock-epic about a man who steals a lock of hair from a young society woman. The work at once takes on the trappings of Neoclassical literature while simultaneously satirizing them. In this regard, it’s an interesting poem to compare with “My Last Duchess,” which also reflects and troubles Neoclassical tropes.

Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

Nabokov’s notorious 1955 novel about a pedophile may seem an odd point of comparison for Browning’s poem. However, both works feature profoundly unreliable narrators who, in their different ways, commit violence against women. Though obviously very different from one another, and belonging to entirely different eras, their key thematic similarities make these works worthy companions.

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